Hunters and collectors

Craig Mathieson

Adam McDonald and Lucas Callaghan, you're the hosts of Aussie Pickers, a local version of American Pickers. What differentiates your show about sifting through people's collections and buying possibly valuable items for resale from the American one?

Adam: The idea translates really well to Aussie culture because the big thing about the show is the collectors. The Australian mentality is don't throw anything away, put it in the top paddock. Everyone knows an uncle or a family friend who is a collector that has all this junk at their house but, with shows like this, people might realise they could be sitting on a pot of gold. The best thing about the show is the collectors we've met. They've all got this quirk mentality that if you throw something away it's gone, but if you keep it the history stays alive.

Given that you've both long worked buying and selling in the industry, do you believe Australia has the necessary pool of collectors to support the series as it continues?

Lucas: There's a lot of stuff out there and what we have is unique: we had this amazing group of creative people isolated from the world, so if you needed something you built it from whatever was available. Aussies can build some ingenious stuff out in their sheds.

Are there iconic Australian brands you're pursuing?

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Adam: The advertising history here is big, bold and beautiful. In the 1910s and 1920s, if you wanted your jar of jam to sell, it was based on how good your tin looked on the shelf, so Arnott's, Rosella and Sunlight soaps used their label as their marketing.

There appears to be a subtext of the collectors sizing you up to make sure you're not just a pair of boofheads from the big smoke.

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Lucas: People think we might be like the American guys, but we're finding that while doing a copy of an existing overseas show is hard - the Top Gear thing - that bringing our humour to it helps. It's not about skinning people and making a killing. Occasionally you make some money, but it's more about meeting the characters. We'd have people who wanted to pull out when we arrived in the morning, but by the afternoon they were inviting us back to their house.

Adam: If you go in there and pull people's pants down it won't last. After six months you'll have made a bad name for yourself.

Will you personally sell the items bought on the show?

Lucas: A lot goes through websites like Gumtree so we can share it with the public.

Adam: Most of my stuff will go through the auction house system.

It's generally agreed there's a use of producers and scouts on the American series, to the point where some people believe the prices are agreed before the shoot. For the Australian show, how briefed are you in advance?

Lucas: They won't even let us see photographs from the [producers'] scouting expeditions.

Adam: There's no bullshit. The producers have seen it all, but they don't tell us anything.

What happens if you go out and don't find anything?

Lucas: It's happened once.

Adam: On one episode we went to a guy's house who had loads of stuff, but he literally wouldn't sell us a thing. I was throwing crazy offers at him … and he wouldn't do it. People will tell you that you can have a look but not buy anything because they're excited to meet someone who is really interested in it, so by the end of the day they'll let you buy one or two things. All those people living out in rural areas would never expect two city guys would come out and really appreciate the stuff they've got. It opens their eyes to other people helping keep our history alive.